MoMA PS1 Gets $3 Million in Budget to Fund Expansion

City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer has secured $3 million in the 2014 budget to expand MoMA PS1.
View Full Caption

DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly

LONG ISLAND CITY — MoMA PS1 is getting $3 million in city budget funds to expand its facility, according to City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who helped secure the cash.

The money will be used for the museum to purchase property adjacent to its current building at 22-25 Jackson Ave., Van Bramer said.

The website LIC Post first reported about the expansion funding on Wednesday. A rep for MoMA PS1 did not immediately return a request for comment on what the new building will specifically house.

"There will almost certainly wind up being an increase in exhibition space," Van Bramer said. "The net gain will be more great art being available to the people."

The money is being allotted to the museum in capital funds as part of the city's 2014 budget, which was finalized June 23.

Van Bramer, who has pushed for increased funding for the city's cultural institutions, also secured budget funds for several other arts organizations in his western Queens district.

The Chocolate Factory Theater in Hunters Point will get $1.7 million, Van Bramer said — money the organization will use either to purchase its site at 5-49 49th Ave., which the theater currently rents, or to buy a permanent home elsewhere.

Van Bramer said arts organizations draw tourists to the district and are a major economic boost for Queens.

"It's a real imperative to expand our cultural institutions, expand their foot prints, increase funding for them and allow them to do more of what they already do well — produce art that brings lots of people to the neighborhood, who then spend money in the neighborhood," he said.

DNAinfo is New York's leading neighborhood news source. We deliver up-to-the-minute reports on entertainment, education, politics, crime, sports, and dining. Our award-winning journalists find the stories - big or small - that matter most to New Yorkers.